According to unofficial results from the Hamilton County Board of Elections, the levy passed 250 votes to 20, with almost 93 percent of the vote supporting the renewal.

Turnout was low: only 270 of 4,176 registered voters in Mount Healthy went to the polls. That’s a 6.47 percent turnout.

Mayor Joe Roetting was ecstatic. “This brings us one step closer to the city’s revitalization,” he said. “This approval allows us to continue to offering fire and emergency medical services at least at the current level. It is a step in the right direction.

Officials said the levy’s passage allows the city to turn its attention to an income tax increase for police services on the ballot in November.

The fire levy not only passed, but voters made it a continuing levy, eliminating the necessity for the city to go back to voters. The levy was first passed in 2004 as a five-year levy. It was renewed in 2009, and now city council wants to make it a continuing levy.

City Manager Bill Kocher said the levy allows the city to continue providing fire service; about 73 percent of the department’s roughly $556,00 budget comes from the levy; the rest comes from the general fund, some of which is funded by ambulance fees.

David Nurre, assistant director of finance for the Hamilton County Auditor’s Office, said the owner of a $100,000 house will pay about $150.06 in taxes for this levy and it generates about $408,121 annually.